Arsenic was picking his way across the caverns, on the way back towards the Gray Wings' nest. His packs were loaded to the brim with herbs and compounds, glasses and vials - so he walked slow and steady, never jostling anything too much.

There was a red dun mare in the middle of the slightly worn path ahead. He frowned, and considered routing around. He didn't like to talk when he was set on a task. He LOATHED it. However there was no easy way around that she couldn't verbally pester him as he went, so. It was easiest just to wander over and past, he supposed.

"...Sir?" There was a dramatic lilt from the stranger's voice as he drew closer, and he frowned. Couldn't she just let him move on by...?

"...What?" He said, ears back a touch.

She'd turned more towards him, and he could see stark dark grullo somatic patches over her eyes and throat, dramatic ones. An unforgettable face.

"D'you know your way around here? I'm sort of... lost. Lost my party's encampment. A slime swallowed my knife, and I'm- I'm just a slight thing, yknow, so it'd be nice if someone... could help me back in that direction..." There was a slight ill-feeling in his gut a moment, when his eyes caught hers, and he almost said no.

She was just a slight little thing, though, and many sorts of things might make a meal out of her. He sighed.

"Alright, then. Which way d'you think you came from?"

"Oh, thank you - it's this way, I'm sure!"

Hadn't she said she was lost...?

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It was a while later, well off the more worn path, and the mare slowed, lagging behind him a touch.

"Are we close, do you think? I've got appointments to keep..."

Arsenic heard her footfalls stop entirely behind him - but heard quieter movement ahead, and shifted his ears.

"I think I can hear your encampment, come on now-"

"Hear that Loot? This fella's telling Ne'er what to do." Rang out a voice, and his head jerked back around to the front. An almost bronze toned horse stood ahead, and off to the side, a yellow and teal fellow as well.

"... Just a misunderstanding, I was helping her get back here-"

"Misunderstanding. Yes." The red dun's voice was back, closer to him now. "Unbuckle your packs so we can have a good look at them now, and this'll be quick."

The big fellow ahead had a knife in his teeth, and had shifted closer. The red dun was blocking him in from behind.

Ah. Shit.